USB OTG (On-The-Go) makes your Android device work with your PC’s peripherals. Wayne Williams shows you how to use it
Most of the hardware we use with our Android devices, such as keyboards, headphones and speakers, connects via Bluetooth. It’s very easy to add Bluetooth devices and, for the most part, they work well. But why limit yourself to using Bluetooth products when you already have loads of peripherals attached to your PC that will work just as well?
Thanks to a technology called USB OTG (On-The-Go) you can connect all sorts of hardware to your phone, including printers, keyboards and mice, games controllers, external hard drives, USB memory sticks and more.
What is USB OTG?
USB OTG, or just OTG for short, is a standard built into some (but not all) Android mobile phones and tablets, which lets you connect full-sized USB devices and use them with your phone, just as you would with a PC. What’s particularly clever about the technology is that it lets your phone act as a dual-role-device (DRD) and function as either the host (the master of other devices that you connect to it) or a peripheral, and switch roles as and when needed.
What you’ll need
Provided your phone supports OTG (and we’ll explain how to check this shortly), you will need two things to make use of the technology – an OTG cable, which you can buy for a few quid on Amazon, and a powered USB hub, so you can attach more than one device at a time. It needs to be a powered hub because, unlike a PC, your device is unlikely to be able to power USB devices directly and, even if it could, you’d end up with a flat battery in next to no time.
Another option is to pick up a USB OTG hub, such as the Inateck HB3001G OTG Hub with Card Reader (bit.ly/inat386). This has three USB 2 ports and slots for SD, microSD, M2 and MS memory cards, and will only set you back around £10 from Amazon.
We would recommend this approach as it should work with almost anything. The cable or hub connects to your phone via its built-in microUSB port. The obvious downside of this is that while you’re using the port for OTG, you won’t be able to charge your phone.
One other word of warning – just because your phone supports OTG doesn’t mean it will recognise or let you use every peripheral you attach to it, and even if it does recognise an item, there’s no guarantee it’ll function entirely as intended. Most devices should work, but don’t be too disappointed if that isn’t the case. Success or failure all hinges on the make and model of your phone and the devices you’re connecting to.
How do I know if my phone supports OTG?
Many modern devices support OTG but you don’t want to go to the effort or expense, however minor, of buying a cable or hub unless you can be sure. There are several ways to check. If you have the original packaging to hand, look to see if it mentions USB On-The-Go or has the official certified logo. You can try searching for the device name and ‘OTG’ to see if that reveals anything. Finally, you can install a checker app on your phone, which will confirm things one way or the other. USB Host Diagnostics (bit.ly/host386) is good, and you could also consider the USB OTG Checker (bit.ly/check386).
Connect a mouse or keyboard
Without question one of the simplest things you can attach to your phone via OTG is a USB mouse. Plug it in and, provided the hardware is recognised, a pointer will appear on screen. You’ll be able to move it around as normal and interact with your phone, just as you would a PC. Naturally, not all mice are suitable – gaming devices with a multitude of buttons are unlikely to work as intended – but most standard mice should be fine.
Adding a keyboard is as easy as adding a mouse and should start working as soon as you plug it in, although you’ll need to spend a little time setting things up, choosing which language to use and so on. If you have a powered hub, you can have both the keyboard and mouse connected and working alongside each other.
Connect your printer
You can print to pretty much any printer directly from your Android phone without OTG. If it’s a wireless printer, you can connect to it directly and, if it isn’t, there’s always Google Cloud Print (bit.ly/print386). This is easy to set up and lets you print copies of documents remotely on your home or work printer, but requires you to keep the PC your printer is connected to turned on at all times. Connecting your printer directly to your phone via OTG solves that problem and works well.
Many modern USB printers should be recognised when you connect them, but not all will be, and older ones are even less likely to work. Fortunately, an easy solution is to use the free PrinterShare Print Service app (bit.ly/share386), which installs as a virtual printer under Android. Some features, such as printing over the internet, require you to purchase the Premium Key for £8 but, if you’re connecting directly to a printer over OTG, the free version should be fine. See Mini Workshop 'Connect an unrecognised printer using PrinterShare Print Service' below for instructions on making the connection.
Connect additional storage
One of the more practical uses of OTG is to connect additional storage to your device. This can be an external USB drive, a flash drive or even an SD card. It’s not as tidy or practicaI as expanding your device’s storage via microSD, but if your phone doesn’t allow this (and many don’t), it’s a great compromise. It makes it very easy to back up your device’s photos and videos, and free up space. You can also pack a drive with a bunch of movies or music files, and use your phone to play them when you’re out and about.
The drive should be recognised by your device when you plug it in but, if it isn’t, you may need to format it, which you can do through Android’s Settings. We show you how in our Mini Workshop 'Add more storage to your device'.
Connect an unrecognised printer using PrinterShare Print Service
1 Install the PrinterShare app (from bit.ly/share386), open Android’s Settings and go to Printing. You’ll see a list of services, including PrinterShare, which will be Off. Select it and, on the next screen where it says ‘Service disabled’, flick the switch to On. Connect your printer via OTG and launch the app from the home screen.
2 You’ll see a printer image at the bottom of the screen, along with the words ‘Not selected’. Tap the Select button and you’ll be presented with a list of possible ways to connect a printer. We’ll select Direct USB Connected. When asked, grant the app permission to access your printer.
3 You should now see your printer. If you don’t, tap the ‘Scan for printers’ button and hopefully it will be found. Once the printer is listed, tap it. You can choose to use a generic printer driver, or add one manually. The former option will require that you install a driver pack. You’ll now be able to print a test page.
Add more storage to your device
1 For this Workshop, we’ll use the Inateck HB3001G OTG Hub, but the process is the same regardless of which hub or cable you use. Connect the drive (in this case it’s a USB memory stick, but an external USB hard drive would also work) and it should be recognised. Tap the onscreen notification to open the drive.
2 Depending on your version of Android, you can also view the drive through Settings, then Storage & USB. This will show you your phone’s internal storage and also any connected portable storage. Tap a drive to view its contents. You can also eject a drive if you want to remove it safely.
3 Browse the drive’s contents, and tap items to open them in your choice of app or service. An ‘Open with’ menu of options may appear. You can search for files, and order drive contents by name, date or size. Tap the three dots to switch between grid and list view, and open settings, where you can format the drive.